Chronicles of the White Fang
by MorteOsiris
Summary: From a boy to a man, Hatake Sakumo grew as a cold blooded killer, feared and revered throughout the land, villages, and people. But one thing, as everyone who knew Sakumo on a personal level, was for sure, he was really just one, loving, peaceful man. Loyalty just happened to be paid in blood.
1. Chapter 1: Butterfly Effect

**_Summary: From a boy to a man, Hatake Sakumo grew as a cold blooded killer, feared and revered throughout the land, villages and people. But one thing, as all who knew Sakumo on a personal level was for sure of, he was really just one, loving, peaceful man. Loyalty just happened to be paid in blood. (AUish, bros. Gotta fill in the gaps somehow)_**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, any of the associated characters, or any other corresponding content. All rights are reserved to Masashi Kishimoto. Any OCs, jutsu, kekkei genkai, e.t.c that I have used in the story that have not been mentioned in the anime/manga, have been highly inspired by Kishimoto and thus is a correspondence of his work. However, I would greatly appreciate it if my readers would refrain from stealing and laying claim of this fan fiction story without my permission.**

* * *

 **Chronicles of the White Fang**

 **Chapter One**

 **-Butterfly Effect-  
**

* * *

 _"You have been created with the ability to change the world. Every single choice you make. . . Every single action you take. . . Matters. But remember, the converse is also true. Every choice you do not make. . . Every action you do not take. . . Matters just as much!"_

* * *

"Sakumo." A feminine voice rang out throughout the small cottage. Deep within the home, inside a clattered closet, a small silver-haired boy popped out from the opening of the paper door.

"Hai?" He called out in answer.

"Come over here!"

Hearing the excitement in her voice, Sakumo complied. He pushed through the small fort within his closet and ran out of his bedroom. His light, grey irises peered down the empty hallway. Secure, he thought before he crept towards where his mother waited in their small living room.

She was standing beside the open window, smoothing out the ruffled feathers of one elegant, brown hawk.

Sakumo perked up at the sight of it. The bird being here meant that there was something delivered from his father. The bird gazed at him in curiosity; it's head tilted from side to side as it observed him.

Sakumo scrunched his nose in wariness. Although he was happy to see the bird, it was cautious of him. It gave one awful screech, but his mom cooed softly towards it before she waved a small little note to him: a simple storage seal.

"It's from your father," she gave away with a smile.

Sakumo closed the distance between them and took the small piece of paper. He laid the paper on the table, knowing full well what would happen when he would activate the storage seal drawn elegantly on it.

Since his mother was a civilian, Sakumo had to teach himself the ropes. First, his father had sent him a note on how to activate storage seals with a flare of concentrated chakra, and it wasn't until his mom gave the okay that his father began to send storage seals filled with knowledge and toys.

His mother practically skipped behind him and watched with an interested gaze as he flicked through a few hand seals before he activated the seal with a simple touch and flare of his chakra.

There was a white poof, and as the smoke cleared, the once empty table was now littered with numerous scrolls, books and even toys. His mother yelped and pulled him into a tight, bear hug. "My little ninja!" Sakumo smiled shyly, allowing her to hold him for as long as she wanted. "Now, let's see what he got you today, shall we?"

She prodded Sakumo closer to the table, urging him to sit down so that they could explore his gifts together. After a few moments, his mother yawned. "This stuff is so boring! Seriously! Does he not know that four year olds like toys and candies instead of books about chakara and-" She peered down in disinterest at one particular scroll. "Fuinjutsu?"

"It's chakra, mom," he corrected softly.

"Whatever." She smiled as she picked up a stuffed toy wolf. "This is so cute."

She began to play with it herself while Sakumo watched on in amusement before his gaze flickered down to rest on the 'Basics of Fuinjutsu,' by Senju Hashirama. He gazed at the name for a moment. It didn't take a genius to figure out who exactly Senju Hashirama was, and where the book was published. It was always books and scrolls that were published in the Land of Fire or the authors that resided around Konohagakure.

His father wasn't trying very hard to hide his identity when all the information given to him could narrow the man down to the Hidden Leaf Village.

"Ha-ta-ke Sa-ku-mo!" His mother sang out.

His head snapped up. "Hm?"

She smiled. "My little ninja is so smart." She waved at the small mountain of knowledge on their table. "Being able to understand this and all. But really, take some time off. I want my baby to have his childhood." She thrust the toy wolf against his chest and ruffled his locks.

Sakumo smiled in embarrassment. "Okay, mom."

"You see, that right there." She kissed his forehead before she stood. "I will miss. I can't wait until you become a bratty teenager." Her voice rang out all the way to the kitchen as she began to stack a few photos, as secretly as she could, into an envelope.

As if she could, he thought. Sakumo wasn't oblivious to her sneaking around and taking pictures of him, but he ignored it. His father needed to know that he was okay somehow.

"Give me a reason to actually scold you, seriously, you're the most perfect child ever." She tied the envelope around the waiting hawk's leg.

The hawk screeched; it took another sip of water from the small bowl his mom left before it soared off and away towards the direction that Sakumo knew was to the Land of Fire. He stared off into the night sky for a moment before he gathered the toy wolf and went back to his closet.

He opened the book to the Basics of Fuinjutsu and read the introduction:

The art of sealing starts with a brush, ink, and imagination.

Where imagination is limitless, so is fuinjutsu, but where the mind is unstable, so will be the foundation of a seal. Not a single drawing of an element could be imperfect or else the entirety of the seal would be canceled out or worse, malfunctioned.

Sakumo settled his toy wolf down next to him and continued on reading.

He flipped to the next page.

* * *

A few hours later, miles away at the border between the Land of Rain and the Land of Fire, the same hawk soared in lazy circles above it's caretaker. He was around his fellow shinobi, recuperating from an assault by Suna-nin, who tried to poison their water supply.

The fleck of white hair turned to look up at the looming bird. Noticing it, the white-haired ninja began to slowly move away from the mass group of people.

Once the white-haired ninja settled with a bit of privacy, he held out his black-clothed arm. The hawk swooped down into the air and landed a little roughly on its makeshift perch of clothed flesh. The bird screeched as the white-haired ninja gazed deeply into its red irises.

"Let me see, what you have seen," the ninja finally spoke.

Two, long fingers placed themselves against the bird's forehead. The bird settled down calmly at the familiar intruding of chakra, and suddenly, memories flashed throughout its mind, transferring into his own.

A beautiful, black haired woman jumped slightly in her seat on the living room, startled as the hawk landed on her open window sill. She smiled excitedly, putting down her book, and moving to give the bird water and food for its service.

Her lips curved happily as she untied the paper and called out their son's name.

He observed the woman without shame. Motherhood did nothing to cause her beauty to fade. Her flawless skin, grey irises, similar to their son's own, full lips, and the beauty spot of two moles: one on the bottom corner of her lip, and the other just below one eye. Hatake Suzume was always a beautiful sight to behold.

He flinched when he saw a flash of white in the corner of his vision. The hawk, always alert and wary of any being in its sight, looked up, giving the white-haired ninja a good view of his son. He was older than last time, and other than the remarkable color of his hair, that tied him too close to himself, Sakumo held more characteristics of his mother.

The boy silently and obediently went to his mother and undid the seal to stare blankly at the gifts he sent them. He sighed when he saw the boy's affections towards his mother, and the silent adoration within his mostly blank expression. The boy would have to learn the hardships of how to be a man the painful way.

Being protected and spoiled like that would only hurt Sakumo in the future. but. . . there was nothing he could do about it. He didn't want to do anything about it. Sakumo was their child, he deserved to have a good childhood within the dreary age of the Shinobi World War.

Their child would be okay, so long as he didn't wander too far from the genjutsu he placed around the perimeter of their home. As long as Sakumo was not seen by any enemy ninja that would tie the boy to him, then Sakumo would be safe.

And if any situation like that happened, Hatake Suzume would be able to counter such situations. She wasn't an S-Rank missing ninja for nothing. And in the worse case scenario, she could always summon him with the teleportation seal he littered around their home. . .

It was hard to see his family from afar, but many nights of passion with the exiled Hatake kunoichi would never be thought of with regret. There was no guilt in making love to her, no grief in bringing another child of his into the world; however, there was disappointment. Disappointment in himself for choosing his village over a family when he really shouldn't have let such things counter each other in the first place.

The white-haired ninja observed the innocent looking woman handing the little boy his stuffed animal. He had trouble in picking out the boys gifts without any of his own students noticing.

He closed his eyes, becoming disoriented after being inside the bird's mind for too long.

He rubbed in between his brows and sighed. Then he reached for the envelope tied to the bird and shifted his arm slightly, signaling to the bird that it was free to do whatever it wanted until the time for its service was needed again.

The hawk screeched and flew off in one graceful movement.

The white-haired ninja then pulled out the photographs of his son. They were black and white, but it was enough to tell him a story. He smirked softly, seeing the boy standing in the middle of a pond near the house. Another one was of him sleeping in the cramped space of his closet where stacks of the books he sent him loomed all around the boy.

"Tobirama-sensei." The familiar voice startled him out of his thoughts.

In one swift movement, the white-haired ninja, Senju Tobirama, pushed the photographs back into the envelope before his vermilion eyes flickered up to the young teenager standing below him.

"What is it, Hiruzen?" Tobirama stepped off the tree branch and landed gracefully in front of his student.

The teenager, Sarutobi Hiruzen, grinned as he held out a list for him to take. "Everything on the list is accounted for, sensei."

Tobirama took the list. His gaze took in every bit of information. "Very well. Inform your teammates. We're leaving tonight."

"Hai, sensei." Hiruzen eagerly set off to do as he was told. However, not even a minute passed by before the direction in which his student left him was ignited in fire. Tobirama's gaze narrowed as he heard screams.

"Enemy attack!" Tobirama heard his shinobi and kunoichi scream out in unison until suddenly, the air was ringing with war cries. The familiar sound of metal clashed together. A sound so familiar to home, and like the moment he heard the first cries of his son, his home, Tobirama relaxed his body naturally.

He cracked his knuckles before he reached back to pull on his gloves. Once the sturdy black fabric was pulled over his bare hands, he was surrounded. Sunagakure hitai-ate's glinted around him. It didn't bother him. One bit.

"Senju Tobirama," one sneered. "It's time to end your reign!"

The white-haired Senju didn't so much as flinch as they all lunged forward. Instead, he took a step to the side, vanishing from the center. Some stopped themselves in time while others collided against each other, ultimately ending their lives.

"Unsightly," Tobirama stated.

The only thing they could manage to do was see the glint of his crimson gaze above them. He defied gravity for one instantaneous moment, then he landed.

The earth ruptured.

Debris flew, cries faded into gurgles of choked blood, and a crater formed underneath him. He stood among the catastrophe. Then he brushed off the dust from his shoulder guards before he was interrupted by another wave of enemy shinobi. Tobirama straightened himself, and he proceeded to rip through them easily with one single kunai.

He shoved a Suna-nin against the tree and narrowed his eyes.

"Why do you laugh, boy?"

The teenager coughed up blood, but he continued to chuckle. "Because while you are occupied here, you shit," he spat. "Iwagakure is invading the other side of Amegakure's border as we speak."

Tobirama drove his kunai into the boy's throat. He took no pleasure in the strained gurgle that wheezed from his throat. It was a cold detachment Tobirama honed since young when he had been sent off to kill Uchiha adults since he was seven.

Afterwards, he sped through the trees, gaining more comrades with each jump from branch to familiar way they synchronized with each other in their movements, and the way they evaded and disarmed their enemies with ease by looking after each other's backs was what Hashirama, his brother, and Tobirama had instilled in them since they were young.

It was what a well-bonded team could achieve.

A principle ensured to be deeply ingrained within the young generations of Konohagakure.

His team: Team Tobirama, but better known as the Elite Rokunin consisted of six renowned ninja; they were Uchiha Kagami, Shimura Danzo, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Utatane Koharu, Mitokado Homura, and Akimichi Torifu. Parentless children Hashirama and he raised since they were young and honed to be deadly shinobi of the leaf.

It hadn't been easy.

Especially with three, parentless children from the Sarutobi, Uchiha, and Akimichi clan, but back when Hashirama had been hokage, the clan heads entrusted them to Hashirama and Tobirama's teachings and guidance.

Now they were out of clan influence. Part of the first generation of clan members whose loyalty was to the leaf eyes gazed at the six students. "Kagami, Danzo, and Hiruzen, I want you to secure northwest perimeter. Koharu, Torifu, you will secure the southeast. Homura, since you work well alone, you will go southwest." He straightened and bowed his head. "I will secure the rest," and with that, Tobirama vanished from their sight.

When he reappeared, it was in the middle of battle where Sunagakure was overthrowing the few living konoha shinobi and kunoichi. Tobirama quickly stepped in, turning the tables around.

He tossed his kunai forward, using it to bend the dimension until there was only movement from point A to point B. He was like a white flash through the crowd of Suna-nin, bumping into them purposefully to mark them with his seals before he went in for the kills.

It wasn't until he cut through half of their forces that they came to the realization of who he was and what his special techniques were compiled of.

"It's the Nidaime!" One screamed.

Tobirama silenced him with a kick to the ribs. They shattered on impact.

There was screams of rage. Tobirama took his time to settle onto his feet. Just as he did, however, he flickered out of the way, barely avoiding the ripping gusts of wind that could have been damaging to his armor.

"Ah," he mused, eyes moving up to gaze at the attacker. A grinning kunoichi with two small fans in each hand waved his way.

"Finally, a worthy opponent!" The grin on her face stretched.

His eyes narrowed. It was always the loudmouths who died early. He whirled the dulled kunai in his grip, calculating the distance between them.

There was a sudden screech and he looked up to the familiar sound. It was his bird swooping down towards him. Before he could do more than frown, waves of wind rushed forward, obliterating everything in its wake until there was nothing but flesh, blood, and feathers.

Eyes narrowed as they turned back to the perpetrator.

"No, no, no," she scolded with a wiggle of her finger. "It's disrespectful to ignore a kunoichi like-"

A gurgle escaped her lips as he sliced his dull knife across her throat. Her reaction was that of shock as she collapsed to her knees. He looked away to stare at his worn out kunai. The seal on it was fading, becoming useless from constant use.

He blocked incoming projectiles behind him, sensing every location without even looking before he finally turned to see two suna-nin looking at him with pure hate.

"You killed, Mina, you fucker. . . I will never forgive you."

He raised a brow. "With that line of reasoning, I could say the same thing about my hawk."

"Good riddance too. It's only use was to bring us here." He spat on the floor and began to form hand seals for a weak earth jutsu.

Tobirama dodged with a jump to the air. His eyes flickered from side to side, observing the ninja that tried to flank him before he smashed his fist against the earth, putting a dent to their balance. That one second was enough to kill one and keep the other alive in order to interrogate.

"So you have followed my bird? From which location?" He tightened his grip on the man's throat.

"Screw you!" The man grit his teeth.

Tobirama's eyes narrowed before he clamped his hand down, strangling him with a crush to his esophagus. The man was a shinobi. No matter how weak or loose his tongue was in the heat of battle, a true shinobi would never willingly give information in torture.

He looked back to see his fellow konoha-nin finishing up their own battles before he forced himself to look at his dead hawk.

The other side of Amegakure's border was an army of Iwa-nin.

 _Sakumo._

* * *

 **REVISED: 10/23/2017**


	2. Chapter 2: A Mother's Love

**A/N: Holy SH**T! I just blood-tied one of my two most favorite characters together! Who by the way didn't get enough screen time! Even though. . . ya know, they're dead and all! But still! Why does Kishimoto have to be so freaking awesome to give characters such beauty and life to them and then suddenly just kill them off! He's like George RR Martin. . .**

 **:'(**

 **Well, good thing I have fan fiction here to vent off my anger and my fantasies.**

 **Whoa, that's kinky.**

* * *

 **Chronicles of the White Fang**

 **Chapter Two**

 **-A Mother's Love-  
**

* * *

 _"There is no greater warrior than a parent protecting their child."  
_

* * *

 _'Don't wander off too far,'_ Sakumo's mother said before she left for the market just a few hours after the hawk had left.

Sakumo looked up to see the house still in view just a distance a ways. It wasn't as if he wandered too far. What mother didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

Sakumo threw three kunai.

He observed the way the metal glinted off the bits of light. They streamed through the thin spaces between the gathering clouds. It was almost mesmerizing.

A sense of satisfaction filled him at the sound of each kunai hitting their exact mark. He pushed off the soles of his feet to run down towards the tree at the bottom of the hill.

Grey eyes took in the bulls eye. He hit the center of each circle. He was never able to do that before, but now. . . He was almost like a real ninja!

Sakumo proceeded to pull out the kunai so that he could throw at a harder angle in order to challenge himself more. He looked up, to see the fading streams of light and sighed. It had been a good day out. It was why he had wandered so far from his house.

Sakumo brushed away the wet strands of hair. It was drizzling heavily with rain. Rain. He panicked. If his mom found out he was outside, she'd kill him.

He collected his scattered kunai littered across the ground, and he raced back to his window where he originally escaped from. Sakumo placed his kunai in his closet along with all of the other shinobi gear that his father had sent him and began to dry off his hair and put on new clothes before his mother came home.

He wanted to make sure to be presentable when she found out his surprise.

And surprised she was.

When she had barged into the house, calling out his name, Sakumo had raced out to see her reaction to the new seals he had placed within their little home. He crossed his arms in self satisfaction as he observed his mother stepping into the kitchen, activating the seal of light, before stepping out, having the light fade away without her presence.

It was a simple seal.

One that had been described in a step by step process within the book written by Senju Hashirama. He wondered why no one else used such seals within their small, civilian village, but maybe it was just exclusive to ninja villages. If that was so, perhaps, his father was pulling favors to deliver such knowledge to him.

"This is so cool! Now we don't have to use candles anymore!" This time she hopped into the kitchen doorway, igniting the room with light again. Her watery eyes gazed back to him, and she gave him a soft smile. "Do you have any more surprises for me?" She asked.

She picked up the grocery bags from the floor. Where she unceremoniously dropped them from the unexpected surprise.

Sakumo merely turned, ignoring the slight shaking of her hands and tense posture in his own eagerness to show her the second surprise.

He gestured for her to follow him down the hallway and towards her room. When he opened the door before stepping in, the room lit up, creating shadows. He pointed at a few seals he had weaved around the room.

"So what am I looking at?" She drawled.

"Air purifiers." When she gave him a questioning look, he elaborated. "I've noticed you coughing lately. I think it's because of the humidity that we breathe in every day. So I put these seals up to purify air." He pulled out a black mask and handed it to her. "This is for you when you leave the house. You have to make sure you wear one." He tugged up his own mask and let it rest on his nose and cheeks, hugging half of his face perfectly. "Look, I'll wear one with you so you don't feel lonely," he added, his voice sounded as clear as day despite the mask.

It was another seal included within the book. However, the seal was just limited to purifying the air of liquid, so that one wouldn't get pneumonia. When he was older, he hoped to create a seal that used elements to destroy bacterial agents and poisons.

She stayed silent for a moment before bringing him into a hug. "I love you so, so much."

He hugged her back. "I love you too, kachan."

Her grip tightened, but Sakumo didn't complain. It wasn't until she began to tremble that Sakumo put effort into breaking away. What was wrong? Why was she crying?

"What's wrong, mom?" His voice was low in the silent room, echoing along with her sudden muffled sobs.

He reached up to brush the tears away from her red-rimmed gaze. They shone grey and bright like his. Once when the full moon shined brightly in the night sky before the clouds had yet to gather to begin their wrath, Sakumo had managed to catch a glimpse of the moon; he couldn't help but to compare the light with her own eyes. They were beautiful. A contrast to his own dark grey.

"Sakumo. . . I wish that your father and I can protect you forever within this house. I wish that you will never be exposed to the outside. To the. . . To the war. . ." She brushed silver strands of hair away from his face and kissed his forehead.

That's when Sakumo heard it. The floor rumbled underneath his feet, and his head whirled to the side. His limited senses spread to check what was happening. However, his attention was forced away when her hands firmly moved his head so that he had no choice but to look into those two full moons.

"But I realized today. . . When I sensed that army coming. . . that I cannot protect you forever."

He grasped her wrists, confused. What did she mean by army? Who was coming? What was happening?

The questions paused on his tongue when he saw the turmoil within those eyes for the first time. It explained everything. Her rush to get back from the market, her yelling his name as she came home, and the anxiety within her steps as she quickly made her way to the kitchen, but that all faded when he surprised her.

She put aside the inevitability of war heading to their front steps in order to share this moment with him.

"Everyone has a weakness," she whispered. She caressed his cheeks with her thumbs, and she stood slowly, lithely. She had a grace to her, a deadly aura that was never there before. Her eyes narrowed, and suddenly, she didn't look like his mother.

She seemed. . . completely different.

"My weakness is you," his mother finished. She moved towards the wooden chest next to her bed, ignoring the rumbling of the ground and the piercing roar of an explosion at the foot of the hill where their house was.

He managed to stay on his feet, his heart quaking in his chest. He heard another explosion, right outside their house. An army? But that meant that the enemy were right on Konohagakure's doorstep.

That meant that Konohagakure was losing.

"Sakumo. . ." His attention once again was averted in favor of his mother's sharp tone. "Did you leave the house today?"

His eyes widened because he did leave the house. He defied her orders and left to the bottom of the hill. He gave one simple nod, unable to lie to her face.

She closed her eyes and sighed. What did he do wrong? Why was it important that he never left the house?

Something like glass shattered in the kitchen.

Sakumo sprang away from the closed door. "Mom!" He shouted in warning, but his mother was already moving in action.

She pulled out a sheathed katana from the chest. A weapon. Since when did her mother ever own a weapon?

"The genjutsu was broken then," her voice carried along with the rushing of footfalls down the hallway. Genjutsu? What did she mean by genjutsu?

Sakumo could barely react as he stared in awe when her katana glowed white, and she disappeared from his sight. Comprehension dawned on him when he heard the clashing of metal, and the grinding of friction that it brought. The only thing that startled him out of the surreal reality was the scream that died out by a gurgling sound.

He ran towards the open doorway to see his mother, covered in blood, glaring down at the dead body.

Her eyes snapped towards Sakumo. "Quick, seal all of the information your father sent you!" She ordered, holding her sword at the ready as she rushed the opposite way. "I'll hold them off."

"Mom!" He stepped forward, ready to follow, but she quickly commanded him to do as she said before disappearing from his view.

He ground his teeth together, torn between doing what she said and following his instincts to be close to her. Decision made, Sakumo pushed off his heel to race into his bedroom. His heart accelerated as he scoured his bedroom for an unused scroll.

He wasn't prepared. Wasn't prepared at all. His eyes landed on the brush and ink, and as he reached for it, he looked to the bare skin of his wrist.

"That's it," he breathed as he shoved his sleeve up, and although he was trembling inside, his hand steadily and perfectly began to weave together the elements to form the storage seal on his bare skin.

He had practiced the storage seal enough to do it repeatedly on paper without making a mistake. It was the same application on bare skin, right? There shouldn't be anything that would make it malfunction. Paper, skin? The difference in where it applied didn't matter, so long as the seal was perfect and working.

The ink was cool to the touch, and he quickly glanced to the books, scrolls, and loose papers. Books first on one seal that was labeled with books. Scrolls came second in a separate storage seal on his other wrist, and the loose paper were gathered and bound into a folder before he sealed it in a third seal. With a flare of his chakra, all the material was pulled into a separate dimension, like a vacuum.

Sakumo grit his teeth at the sudden loss of chakra, but he bared with it as he looked for any important material that he might have left out. There was none. He staggered as he gathered his toy wolf into his backpack. It was the only thing he managed to put in his pack before he was interrupted.

There was a crash, and Sakumo cried out as the roof caved in beside him. A dead body landed, mutilated with lacerations. Sakumo wiped at the blood that splattered over him with a heavy breath.

"Sakumo!" He heard his mother scream.

She fell in through the same hole, landing on top of the body. She quickly checked him over with worried eyes before picking him up in one fluid movement. Sakumo still gazed at the dead body.

"Get behind me," his mother ordered. She adjusted him so that he was on her back with his arms wrapped around her neck. She placed an arm under him to support his weight. She stood to her full 5 ft height. "Hold on," was her only warning before she sprang up.

Sakumo tried hard not to be surprised. He had seen the patrolling leaf shinobi and kunoichi do this all the time, but his mother was supposed to be a civilian. Harmless.

The only ninja in his family was supposed to be his father. . .

As she landed outside of the house, Sakumo was in for a greater shock. The entire village below them was in raging flames. Bodies of shinobi and kunoichi were scattered everywhere, but even though there were many dead, there was even more shinobi alive, and they fought with a raging blood thirst that made him flinch.

"Wh-What. . ." Sakumo couldn't believe that his village was struck by a battle.

He had heard of many villages scattered across Amegakure bearing the same fate, but never had he believed his own would too. Was it naivety? They were close to the Land of Fire's borders, under Konohagakure's protection. The war wouldn't reach the Land of Fire's borders, he had believed, but he was wrong.

The war reached them.

The reality of the situation bore down on him with an unbearable weight. Just a few hours ago they were enjoying a peaceful time, with her reading one of her cheesy romantic books, and him reading about fuinjutsu. How could such a serene day be destroyed in such a short amount of time?

"Iwagakure's managing to cut off the supplies Konohagakure received through this side," his mother explained as she shifted and began to form seals with just one hand. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu."

She sucked in a steady breath before blowing out wisps of chakra that converted to flames through the activation of her hand seals, and in a matter of moments, Sakumo eyed the destruction of his childhood with a wide, disbelieved gaze.

The house he had lived in his entire life was reduced to nothing but ashes and raging flames that reflected deep within his grey irises, but it wasn't the loss of the house he was so unbelievably sad about: it was the memories he cherished within it. The memories that now will only be lived through his heart and not through his eyes.

His mother turned and raced across the land without looking back. He wished he was as brave as her at the moment. He wished he could think through, straight ahead like her rather than be overwhelmed by emotions, but he was only four. This. . . This wasn't something anything or anyone could prepare for.

She was heading straight to the border of the Land of Fire's forest, avoiding the fight as best she could. It wasn't cowardly, however. Cowardly was him, holding on tightly and shutting his eyes to avoid the carnage. She was brave and determined. She was everything a kunoichi was.

She was a kunoichi.

All this time. . . She made him believe otherwise.

"Konoha will lose this battle, it's best if we do not stay," she whispered, but he figured it was more for his reassurance than for hers.

"Wh-Where are we going?" He opened his eyes then. His mother never failed in making him feel safe. She was his home.

"I have contacts in Uzushiogakure. We will go straight through the Land of Fire, and we will find them. They will lead us to our clan." Her gaze was pointed hard before them, and they narrowed, showing reluctance.

"Our clan?" He questioned. "A clan. . . of ninja?"

His eyes widened in realization. No matter what, he couldn't deny that his mother had all the skills of a ninja, and all ninja either carried a civilian surname or a surname that tied them to a clan: mercenary clans that were feared and revered during the Warring States Period. Could that mean, he had family out there? Family that tied them together through blood, chakra, and a surname?

"You're innocent. . ." His mother trailed off, almost as if she was speaking to herself. Reassuring herself. "No matter what happens to me, they will not hurt you."

It had to be true then. He couldn't deny it any longer. His mother was a kunoichi, and they had family: the Hatake Clan.

"Wh-Why would they hurt you?" He was terrified of the answer, so instead, he quickly began to give her alternatives. "Father lives in Konoha, we can go to him. If he still contacts us then that means he cares, yes? He won't hurt you-"

"You're wrong." She quickly silenced him with the anger in her words. "Your father is an important man, who does not allow the shinobi conduct rules to be broken," she scoffed. "I will sooner die by his hands then I would my own family."

Her eyes shifted to the side, and with a quick grace, she side jumped right as a great wall of mud flooded the earth they stood upon, entrapping the evergreen, and breaking apart the scattered trees around.

Sakumo barely caught on that they were being attacked.

His mother cursed, already in action. The friction of metal against metal ground against each other. He looked up to see his mother meeting each swipe of a blade with her own before summoning an electric current throughout her weapon, breaking the enemy's blade in half, and in the end pushing the sharp edge through his own flesh. Blood spurted everywhere, coating Sakumo. He lost his grip, and his mother cried out. She shifted, adjusting his weight back on her back while simultaneously meeting a kick to her stomach in order to protect him.

She had no choice but to land on the mud that began to harden around her feet, entrapping her. Both mother and son looked up to study the two ninja that advanced on either side of them.

Her head shifted from side to side, taking in her surroundings. She smiled

"Hold on," she ordered as her arm that supported him left. Sakumo did as he was told and tightened his grip over her shoulders, and he did the same with his legs by squeezing them around her waist.

She slammed her sword into the ground as Sakumo held on fast, and he watched, transfixed, as she flashed through hand seals. He observed the chakra that sparked and sizzled at her fingertips. Her fingers buried deep into the solid ground. Who knew that one simple electrified touch could break and shatter the earth around them.

Lightning currents coiled above and below the ground, rushing to the two opponents before it wrapped around them like electrified ropes.

"Learn Sakumo, it's not all about strength and power. It's about keeping a level head and advancing with a strategic mind. In this case," she flicked her blade to the side, splattering blood on the rubble. "lightning beats earth."

She moved her arm under him as they both stared down at the Iwagakure hitai-ate that had come loose and fallen on the rubble.

His mother knelt down slightly and sighed out. "It's been awhile since I fought," she mentioned as he pushed off her back to look at her with worried eyes.

He wasn't reassured by her words. How many people has she killed? How many chakra had she spent for his sake? His mind searched for answers, and he frowned when he realized that all those bodies that littered around their house was because of her.

She had also run for a good hour before they were attacked by the three Iwa-nin. His mother needed to rest. She chuckled, breaking him out of his thoughts with a gentle stroke of a hand through his silver hair.

"Don't worry Sakumo. I'm too amazing to be killed here." She gestured for him to climb back on before standing. "Alright, let's get out of here."

"That will not be happening," a new voice erupted around them. His mother turned back, eyes searching for the invisible foe.

Sakumo cowered behind her, holding on with a shaking grip as a sudden pressure began to descend on the both of them. It was suffocating, as if his insides were being dropped dramatically. This anger and hate. The intent behind it was enough to smother him to death. It was hard to breathe, hard to think.

"It is a pleasure to meet you again, Hatake Suzume."

Before them appeared a man, bandaged from head to toe. The only part visible, however, were his violet hued eyes. They narrowed slightly.

His mother began to tremble too, but she did a hell of a better job at standing against the killer intent that leaked from the bandaged man. Her voice was steady, showing no emotions: "Mu," she greeted rather indifferently. "What an ugly sight you are."

* * *

 **REVISED: 10/23/2017**


	3. Chapter 3: Mu of the Dust Release

**A/N: Introducing Mu vs. Hatake Suzume.**

* * *

 **Chronicles of the White Fang  
**

 **Chapter Three**

 **-Mu of the Dust Release-  
**

* * *

 _"After conflict ends, an alliance becomes squabble over spoils of war. The victor there becomes the new dominant power."_

 _-Mu of the Dust Release_

* * *

Mu.

One simple name, but it could turn the tide into a battlefield. Confidence that would be present would be replaced by fear, wariness, and rage.

There was reputation behind a name.

A name held power.

It was like seeing someone in a new light. However, in Sakumo's case, he saw the man in shadows. He was known to be the Iwagakure's Invisible Man; his infamous ability was to form three dimensional forms that disintegrated everything at a molecular level.

He was a frightening rumor that was said to have cut down Konohagakure's forces by half when using his kekkei genkai. And there he was, floating in mid-air, above a shinobi platoon of thirty. No. Not even the rumors of such a man went past his gossiping village.

Sakumo began to shake at the odds against them.

They were outnumbered two to thirty-one. No. Not even two.

His mother was the only one who could fight. Whereas he? All he could do was do a little bit of seals, throw a few straight kunai and stand above water.

Comparing himself to the skilled fighters, that slowly began to step away from the shadows, exposing hardened, emotionless eyes, was like comparing a prey to a predator.

His grip tightened around his mother, who had long since stopped shaking. She stood steadily with no emotion shadowing her expression, in front of a mini-army and an S-class shinobi.

His mother shifted from foot to foot, hand tightening around the handle of her sword.

Mu spoke, "I see that you've grown. What a fine kunoichi you have become, Suzume. My only regret after this battle, however, will be that I will not be fighting you at your best."

His eyes wandered and pierced Sakumo. The effect was enough to suffocate him. His mother shifted so that she protected him from the imposing Iwa-nin's view.

"But seeing a rogue of the leaf that caused us great loss during this war when on active duty cannot be ignored, no matter your slight. . . disadvantage." He brought his hands together, and his mother stiffened, her legs spread slightly, ready to jump back at a moment's notice. "War is never fair." His voice carried.

A flash of white blinded his vision, and Sakumo quickly shut his eyes to block it away. Once his vision came back, he cracked his eyelids open. Where were the Iwa-nin? Where was Mu? It was as if one moment, they were there, and the next they were gone.

"M-Mom?"

"I can't fight a platoon with you around. No. We will run."

It was as if his surroundings zoomed in on them, but no. Sakumo observed his mother's speed. She was. . . the one who wa moving fast, closing in on her surroundings at a speed that he had a hard time comprehending. It was as if she was flickering across the terrain putting space between them and the Iwa-nin.

She was already sprinting down the muddy terrain, straight towards the forest. However, as dust began to unnaturally surround them, Sakumo understood that running away would not be an option.

"Shindoryuudan no Jutsu," Sakumo managed to hear within the war cries behind them. A loud screeching followed. The earth rumbled, and his mother jumped up to dodge the crack of the ground below them just in time.

"Mom!" He cried out as a large head of what looked like a dragon shot out of the ground. It was made of rock and stone, with wings that batted the wind, creating whirlpools all around them.

The dragon's fearsome jaws opened and suddenly it roared. It flew towards them at an amazing speed, but his mother proved once again that she wasn't an average kunoichi.

She did that body flicker again out of the area, without making hand signs, right as the dragon began to explode in wisps of fire and smoke. The explosion rocked the earth once more, and it created a crater where they once were. His heartbeat quaked and rattled at the sight of such a force.

He was frozen, body locked to his mother for safety. All he could do was watch on in fear, unable to even move due to the dread of dying. Whereas his mother, his mother continued to fight on with a furious determination glinting in those storm grey eyes.

Shinobi sprang left and right, swords swiped and kunai were thrown, but his mother danced around, protecting her blind spot and managing to use their attacks to her advantage. At one point, she dodged three spiraling shuriken and swooped under a shinobi who had taken the deadly blow before attaching a few explosive tags to his back.

She then kicked him straight to an advancing foe in a fraction of a second. The tags lightened and consumed four shinobi into its explosion. At the same moment, his mother had taken the lives of two more with her sword.

However, no matter how powerful and quick his mother was, the fight had taken its tole on her. She had killed off almost thirty shinobi. As well as the ones that attacked their house, and the three on their way to the forest. She was running out of stamina, out of chakra, and her movements were more heavier and more predictable.

She charged a man with a punch filled with chakra and dipped at the waist to dodge a blow from the man in order to dig a kunai deep into his spine. She then kicked the man forward and used him as leverage in order to swipe down and stick another kunai deep into a kunoichi's neck.

Then her eyes shifted to the side, and a scream of protest erupted from her chest before she moved to block flying shuriken aimed for Sakumo's back with her own body.

She fell harshly onto her side, and Sakumo lost his grip on her, falling into a bloody pile of dead bodies that cushioned his fall.

She ripped a shuriken out of her thigh, and she groaned as blood seeped out. She then flung the chakra-coated weapon in Sakumo's direction, but it didn't pierce him. There was a thud behind him.

Sakumo turned.

His unblinking eyes observed the blood that sprayed from the iwa-nin's throat. The man gurgled, hand reaching out to grasp a fist full of hair. Sakumo cried out. He tried to pry the calloused hand off in fear that the man would hurt him, but there was no need to when he felt the man's weight being lifted off of him.

He reached out, believing it was his mother, who came to save him, but he halted fast when bandages met his vision.

"No!" Yelled his mother. Mu gripped his hair, and he lifted him off of the pile of bodies. "Don't touch him!" His mother screamed, crawling forward, uncaring of the open wounds that created a trail of blood in her wake. "Don't you dare touch him."

Sakumo reached up and grasped the wrist of Mu's with his smaller hands rather weakly.

Violet irises gazed at him, void of emotions. "Reality is a cruel thing, don't you think?" Mu calmly spoke. "When we are supposed to protect such innocence with these abilities, instead, we are trained to kill them, kill any of them in order to spite those who side with the leaf."

With his other hand, Mu drove his kunai forward. It dug deeply into Sakumo's stomach. He did not feel pain. Not at first. First, was a numbness; in its wake, a lapse of comprehension in his mind.

He couldn't believe what his eyes saw. A sort of denial. If only for a millisecond.

Then the signals of warning from his mind to his wound began to transcend. He felt pain. He felt the warning as if it was as clear as spoken words, you will die if you do not act! Here, where you feel the most, is where the problem is!

He understood and from the screaming of his mother, she understood as well. The bandaged hand pulled the weapon out, and Sakumo felt his grip loosen on the man's wrist. Suddenly, like a ragged doll, he was flung back, and it wasn't until he felt arms encircle around him roughly when Sakumo acknowledged he was back in the safe embrace of his mother.

She put pressure on his wound, but he could see, his blood seeping through the gaps of her fingers. It stained his clothes, pooling underneath and staining his mother's clothes too. It hurt.

The pain, however, began to fade. It was a cool sensation passing through him. He shivered. The pain, it was numb now.

He doubted that was good.

"I'm not as cruel as you may think." Mu lifted his arms again, the first spark of emotion within his violet gaze. "This is my respect for you, in saving you both the pain that the future will bring. Unlike me," he whispered, as he brought his hands together. "at least you will die together, with your son."

"No," his mother weakly began. Her trembling hand shook above him, cradling him ever so carefully despite the losing strength within her. Her wheezing gasps for air were short as she pulled back her sleeve, revealing a small but complex seal that was tattooed to her skin. Sakumo's swimming vision focused on the seal for a moment.

"My son will l-live," she wheezed. Sakumo's fading vision looked up to see blood seeping out of her curved lips. A smile. His heart warmed at the sight. "N-No matter what, he will live!" Her shaking fingers hovered over the seal, and he could practically see the last bits of her chakra seep into the seal, activating it.

Like a hungry wolf, the seal ate away at her chakra until there was nothing left.

HIs mother's hands fell limply on his lap.

Her breathing stopped.

Sakumo closed his eyes ready to feel everything and nothing at the same time. His breaths became distorted, the pain in his stomach unbearable. It would be fine. No matter how much he despised and feared Mu, he was grateful for one thing: he would be with his mom.

He would die with her.

"It can't be. . ." The man before him breathed out.

Anxiety ate away at his insides by the sudden fear that crept up the bandaged man's tone. Sakumo's eyes cracked open. The silence after Mu's words of disbelief were unbearable.

When darkness subsided, his vision took in his surroundings; the black seal on his mother's wrist fading, the blood that marked her death within the earth, the black, unfamiliar shinobi sandals that stood upon it, and as he observed it all, Sakumo feared if Mu changed his mind.

The black shinobi sandals didn't belong to Mu, however.

Sakumo did not see the man who killed his mother. He did not see those calm, passive violet eyes. The bandaged, infamous Iwa-nin splattered in blood. The one whose burnt skin peeked through the worn out bandages with tears and rips.

Sakumo saw something else.

He saw battle armor tinged in an ocean blue hue. It was worn and stained with dried blood; the cracks of chipped paint along that plated shoulder blades showed its seasoned use. He recognized this armor.

It was made before Sakumo's time. Only veterans of the Warring States Period wore such armor. Something born and honed by constant battle. It spoke of experience.

Sakumo saw the white lining of fur that wrapped around the neck guard. It complimented the man's stark silver hair that swayed like grass on a stormy day.

He saw the shinobi slowly straighten from his crouched position. His body tense and ready to strike. Then, there was a shift. Sakumo froze when the man turned. His vermilion irises glared.

Even more so, as the air shifted and lashed when those eyes gazed at his mother, who continued to cradle him in her arms even in death.

Say something, Sakumo's thoughts urged. He opened his mouth, but nothing but blood was coughed out as Sakumo tried to ask who the man was.

The white-haired man closed his eyes for one second. "I see. . ."

Too fast for the eye to follow, the white-haired man threw a kunai. At first, Sakumo wondered what the man thought to do when Mu simply shifted his head to the side to avoid the obvious flying projectile.

However, all doubt disappeared when the white-haired man vanished in mid stride. Sakumo looked up and found the man behind Mu. He grabbed the kunai in mid-air and slammed it deep into Mu's spine.

Mu's movement was thrown forward by the impact, barreling straight towards Sakumo and his mother.

Sakumo only watched as Mu came flying towards him. His hand shakily moved over the wound on his stomach. He was still bleeding, but he couldn't feel it.

The white-haired man appeared before them again, right above Mu, who was still in mid air.

The kunai. There must be a seal on it, like the one on his mother's wrist. It was dug deep into Mu's spine, and suddenly, the white-haired man's legs shot out, slamming Mu straight into the ground, creating a crater that shook and unbalanced Sakumo.

Grey eyes watched as the white-haired man lifted a fist and punched it straight through Mu's chest, creating a mess of blood and shattered bones. No matter how gruesome, Sakumo couldn't look away. This was the man who killed his mother. . . the man who ripped away the only one he loved, the only one he cared for.

"Don't be a fool, Nidaime Hokage-sama, it is unbecoming of you." Vermilion eyes shot up to see the same man whose chest had been blown off, now floating above them, unharmed. "This isn't the first time we fought," Mu chided.

N-Nidaime Hokage? As in the Second Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato? How. . . How was it possible that his mother was able to summon a kage-leveled shinobi?

The white-haired man slowly stood, eyes casting over the empty spot where he had just crushed the man to bits. He didn't seem surprised. Unlike Sakumo, who probably had a million questions written all over his face, the Nidaime Hokage merely took the change of situation with stride.

"The ability to split yourself has always been troublesome," the Nidaime's voice was a low timbre. It was void of all emotion except for mild annoyance.

As if he had better things to do, as if dealing with Mu was merely a pesky situation rather than something life or death threatening, as if. . . As if finding himself being summoned was a burden.

"Hm? Your chakra seems disturbed," Mu spoke calmly.

The ease in both their postures made it seem like dealing with S-Ranked opponents was a daily occurrence.

"You should not let her death be responsible for your own." Violet eyes flickered and met Sakumo's gaze. "Or your son's death either." Suddenly, there was a blast of white. As fast as noise and as fast as light.

This was it. Mu was finally fulfilling his promise. However, just before the incinerating light could touch him, his vision was obscured by a shadow and red irises.

He felt the Nidaime's arm wrap around his torso. The other cradled his head. As much as the embrace was gentle, the separation from his mother's limp arms was harsh. Cruel.

"No!" Sakumo reached for his mother, but he was too late. The pulling sensation tugged. It was as if he was one of his scrolls with the way he was being sucked in.

Everything around him became brand new.

Different surroundings with Mu no longer around.

They were no longer in the battlefield with all those dead Iwa-nin and Mu. They were in a new place. The birds chirped, the dense trees swayed, and the light crept through the thick evergreen canopies above; it was peaceful.

So cruelly peaceful.

It was as if his perspective of the world didn't change. It was as if everything was fine, filled in a naive light. He had once thought war could never touch something so beautiful.

He was painfully, guilelessly wrong.

HIs chest quaked. The numbness in his body couldn't prevent the awfulness in his chest. His body quaked, trying to let it out. Let it all out, and he did.

The happy aura around the camp of shinobi was destroyed as he sobbed. Wings flapped, and the birds that sang of a new tomorrow were abruptly interrupted because his sobs grew higher, louder. He couldn't breathe. His throat clogged and blood dripped from his mouth and nose. The crude taste of iron overwhelmed his senses.

He felt pressure on his stomach, and he gazed up. Through the haze of his darkening vision, he could see vermillion irises and silver hair that appeared like a mane with the fur that lined around his neck.

The Nidaime Hokage. Many pairs of eyes were captured. He was cradled gently against the white-haired man's chest, carried through the crowd as he continued with his heart wrenching cries.

"Hokage-sama, where did you go?" Voices erupted with worry, surprise, and annoyance.

"I need a medic," the Nidaime ordered. "Now." He continued his stride, ignoring all those who surrounded the Nidaime and Sakumo.

"Who's the kid?"

"Is he okay?"

"Shut him up already. There's still Suna-nin around!"

"Why don't you shut the fuck up Danzo?" Another voice growled, but there was no hostility within it: only playfulness. "That will do us all a favor."

"Oh god, he's bleeding!"

"Poor kid. . ."

Voices rang out all around him as Sakumo struggled to breathe in the man's arms. He was held down. Those vermilion eyes were on him again. This time, they didn't look so cold. Something in the Nidaime's expression had him calming down.

Perhaps, the man wasn't so cold.

"That is enough." The Nidaime's voice was calm, but as darkness consumed Sakumo, he couldn't help but to think about the raging storm held beneath that tone.

* * *

 **REVISED: 10/23/2017**


	4. Chapter 4: Refugee

**A/N: As my old readers may have noticed, I took down 19 chapters, and I've updated and revised them to where character development is more realistic in a way.**

* * *

 **Chronicles of the White Fang**

 **Chapter Four**

 **-Refugee-**

* * *

 _"Your life does not end when you die. It ends when you lose faith."_

 _\- Hatake Sakumo_

 _Age 20_

* * *

Dull grey eyes gazed up at the rustling green fabric that made up the tent.

The way it fluttered and flapped and quaked gave him the impression that it was storming outside. Judging by the howling wind and the fierce rain drops that splattered on the ground, he was probably accurate in his assumption.

Sakumo wondered how long it had been since the incident. The clean bandages and stitched wounds looked new, but as he took a good look at the pink scars, he knew it had been a couple of days. It probably had been days.

It didn't matter. Days, weeks, none of it mattered. He still remembered as if it had been just recently since it happened.

Blood. His mother's hands falling on his lap. Cold.

The flaps to the tent opened. In stepped a completely soaked kunoichi. She was adorning a grey flak jacket with plated shoulder blades and black underclothes that all the other leaf shinobi wore as standard uniform.

He'd seen it enough from the patrolling Konoha-nin around his village. His village. It wasn't there anymore.

The only exception to her armor however was the stitched red cross to the black fabric that covered her shoulder. The women swept back her short, damp hair as she looked to him in surprise.

She gasped and unceremoniously dropped her clipboard. "By the Shodaime Hokage," she whispered, her voice sounded mystical. "You're awake!"

He was startled at her sudden excitable happiness. She moved forward, and she ruffled his silver hair as if they were great pals and not complete strangers. Her scarlet hair, cropped to her chin, dripped cold droplets of water onto his exposed chest. He cringed away, earning a sharp intake of breath by the pain of such a movement.

"Oh, sorry!" She laughed as she practically skipped away to grab a towel off a makeshift table. She began to ruffle her hair into the towel rather unladylike and gave him a cheeky smile. "I'm just so happy that you're awake! You've been out for weeks."

He remained silent, not really caring that he'd been in a coma.

"You should've seen Hokage-sama." She looked misty eyed for a second. "He's always such a calm person. Never shows emotions, ya know? But when he just up and vanished and came back minutes later with a dying kid in his arms, he looked downright. . ." She trailed off, finally noticing Sakumo's lack of attention. She cleared her throat and moved forward, this time with more care to her actions. "Hey kid, you okay?"

 _No, he wasn't_ , he thought bitterly, but he chose not to say those words out loud. Something about the worry in her eyes, the tension in her body, reminded him of his mother. . . and he could never hurt his mother. Not voluntarily.

So instead, he cleared his throat and croaked out, "Water?"

She immediately went to retrieve his request and came back with a rush to her steps. She helped tilt his head back and aided in helping him drink. He took greedy sips until the glass was empty, and she went to retrieve more from the pitcher. This time, he took the glass from her hand and helped himself. She sat at the edge of the bed, a small smile playing on her lips.

"Where are my clothes?" He finally managed after helping himself to a third glass of water. His throat no longer felt as if it had been through vigorous torture with sand paper.

She blinked and looked over at his bare, bandaged chest and his boxers.

"Well, I was ordered to burn them by the Nidaime. We have no time or resources to wash them and it was unsanitary." Sakumo blinked before looking away, deep in thought. However, beside him he saw silver fur. It was his wolf toy. A plush little toy that he picked up with a calculative gaze.

It was unharmed.

He hugged it to his chest which earned him a smile from the medic-nin. "The Nidaime said it was okay for you to keep." She laughed. "It was the only thing in your pack. Must be important then?"

He didn't answer, and instead closed his eyes rather sluggishly. He drifted to sleep, toy hugged beside him, and he felt a faint brush of his locks before he succumbed deeper into sleep.

When he woke up again, it was to the vermilion eyed gaze of the Nidaime Hokage.

Sakumo blinked owlishly at him. For a second, he couldn't comprehend it, but then his breath stirred. It's the Nidaime Hokage-

"Calm down."

Sakumo frowned.

The Nidaime stayed where he was on the far side of the tent. His hair looked slightly damp, and Sakumo could hear the faint trickle of rain from outside. The man's arms were crossed as he stayed, leaning on the table.

"You are Hatake Suzume's son." It was not an inquiry. Merely a stated fact. The man moved forward, closer. His gaze was calculative.

Sakumo nodded. He looked to the toy wolf at his side for safety.

The Nidaime hesitated before he asked, "What is. . . your name?"

"Sakumo."

"Hatake Sakumo," he said, testing Sakumo's name before he gave a nod. "I am Senju Tobirama, Nidaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato. From now on, I shall be your provider. Until you reach Genin and are able to provide for yourself with mission wages, you will stay with me in the Senju compound within Konohagakure."

Sakumo's grip tightened on his toy. That was unexpected. Unwanted. He didn't. . . He didn't want to live with some stranger. He wanted his mom. He wanted to be back in Amegakure inside the safety of that small house on the hill. He wanted his father to think he was safe, whoever his father was.

"Do you have any objections or concerns with your current arrangement?" The Nidaime's gaze was narrowed, as if he wanted Sakumo to object. Somehow, Sakumo felt as if it was a trap if he answered to such an opening.

He hugged the toy wolf tighter against his chest.

"Mom died when she summoned you," Sakumo stated bluntly. Where there was pain for the loss, a numbness now replaced it. So similar to a wound in a sense, but where a wound was physical and visible, this one was not.

The Nidaime's expression didn't change, and he didn't answer. Not for a while. However, the atmosphere between them shifted.

They both stared at each other in silence. One expression was worn with apprehension and the other with a cold observation. It wasn't that difficult to guess which belonged to who.

Then the Nidaime strode forward until he was at the foot of Sakumo's bed. "Hatake Suzume was a traitor to Konohagakure no Sato," he finally spoke. "It is no secret. What she did to be named a traitor, however, is classified."

Sakumo's gaze widened.

"Before you were born, I placed the Hiraishin seal on her in order to quickly eliminate her, but your mother managed to deactivate the seal by extracting my chakra from it. It goes unsaid how she was able to do that, but nevertheless, the Hiraishin seal was a faulty seal. One that I couldn't use to transport, but apparently, it was one that had the ability to reverse summon me four years later."

Sakumo's gaze lowered as he took in the information. If his mother was a traitor to the leaf, then that would make her a missing-nin. What about him? He was her son, and she. . . she was his only family. Sakumo glanced up. "Mom said I have a clan. . . near Uzu." The implication that he was not without a legal guardian went unsaid. However, the statement and the underlying meaning was as clear as day. Sakumo wanted to know if he had a choice.

The Nidaime's gaze remained passive. "You may be four years old, child, but you are not unintelligent. You are the son of a missing-nin. One whose loyalty had been to Konohagakure no Sato and all her secrets as well as interests. What Hokage would I be to endanger such secrets by letting the son of a missing-nin live in another village? It's your choice." The Nidaime turned away, but not before he parted with cold words: "The only choice you have."

When the Nidaime Hokage left, Sakumo sunk back into his cot. Questions still clogged his throat, but he swallowed them down along with his frustration. That was it?

He closed his eyes. Just feeling. . . tired. Too tired to think about anything. He let himself fall into a deep sleep. For once, he was granted at least that simple desire.

After a while, he was pulled out of his dreams by the woman he had awoken to first. She paused in checking his IV before she smiled. "You're like a puppy, always sleeping, you know. So what's the name, kid?" He eyed her warily, and she snorted before showing him her clipboard. "I'm tired of calling you Nidaime Wannabe." At the top of the form, 'Nidaime Wannabe' was written.

He reluctantly complied when she gave him a reassuring smile. Plus, he didn't want to be associated with that rude Senju.

"Hatake Sakumo," he replied, and that smile died completely on her lips. She shakily stood, giving him an unreadable look before her eyes turned back to the flaps of the tent.

"O-Oh. . ." She forced a smile to her lips. "I'm going to alert the others that you're awake. Don't go anywhere."

He gave her a look. He could hardly sit up without feeling extremely exhausted. He would just fall flat on the floor if he even tried. When the woman hurriedly left the tent, Sakumo took his time observing his surroundings.

The tent didn't seem to be a medic's tent since there was no medicine or sick people lying around. Instead there was a desk filled with papers where the words were shadowed due to the candles a lit in the room. And there was tables filled with weapons, scrolls, explosive tags, and the particular blue armor, battle-scarred from its daily use in war.

Sakumo had a foreboding idea of whose tent this belonged to.

"Hatake, huh?"

Sakumo was startled out of his thoughts by the playful tone that echoed right beside him. He moved slightly away, wincing as he did so. The first thing Sakumo noticed about the tall shinobi was the three distinctive tomoe that surrounded both pupils in a lazy swirl within the crimson irises.

It was hypnotizing and calming, bringing a sort of warmth within Sakumo that both scared and assured him.

"What an ancient, extinct surname," the man drawled. A man because he was a shinobi, who no doubt had killed many within his youth, but he was still a boy in age due to being only in his teen years.

Sakumo's attention was diverted by a snorting woman, who stood on Sakumo's other side.

Sakumo felt like a trapped mouse as he took in the new people standing all around him, watching him like predators would their prey. He felt overwhelmed by the sight and his heart began to slowly accelerate, alerting all his senses.

A painful reminder that he was still alive.

"Not so extinct, Kagami." She stuck a senbon into her tight fitted bun, not a single blonde hair was out of place.

The red eyed teenager smiled and the tension in Sakumo melted from the warmth that radiated from it.

"Right." Sakumo flinched as the red -eyed man, Kagami, ruffled his silver, disheveled locks. "You really had us worried, kid, what with all that blood and screaming. I really thought I had to kill you in order to shut you up."

Maybe not so comforting. If it weren't for the harsh words, Sakumo would have really felt comforted by that serene, playful tone. He had an inkling that this man was as unstable as Sakumo felt at the moment.

He just showed it to the world with a sadistic, humorous perspective whereas Sakumo showed it with an impassive one.

"Like that's reassuring to the kid." Sakumo took notice of the bigger man who stood at the end of his bed. His brown eyes were abnormally large and smokey. They looked enhanced by the black smudges of exhaustion traced under his eyes.

Kagami raised a defined brow. "Torifu, my man, did I hear that correctly?" He looked to the woman. "Was he just cracking a joke right now, Koharu?" The woman, Koharu, actually gave a mischievous smile in answer. Unable to keep an indifferent attitude with Kagami's light-hearted attitude.

Kagami let out a bark of a laugh. "Whoa, that's deadly." He clasped the larger man, torifu, on the back. "One minute I finally get your cool, serious facade, and the next moment, you get outta character?" Kagami placed an arm around Torifu with a playful smile. "You're an enigma and I'm seriously gonna fan-girl right now-" Red eyes flickered to the side. "Ah, Danzo, my man! Nice of you to show up and ruin the mood," he cheerfully exclaimed as three men walked into the steadily crowding tent.

Sakumo had yet to know who these strangers were. What were they doing here?

A scowling tanned man glared at Kagami— He must be Danzo then— but Danzo didn't react when Kagami embraced him with a lazy arm.

"Danzo, guess what I've learned today-" Kagami began.

"He's a Hatake," Koharu informed rather uncaringly.

Kagami gave the woman a blank look. "You're a pain in the neck do you know that, woman. A damn pain."

"If anyone's a pain in the neck here, it's you Kagami." One of the other teenage boy's spoke. He moved to stand next to the kunoichi before he pulled off his fogging glasses and began to wipe them with his sleeve.

"Straight through the heart," Kagami placed a hand mockingly against his chest. "That one really hurt."

The glasses wearing man ignored Kagami in favor of the woman, who smiled warmly at him. "We just came back from patrol and heard that you three were here." The man gazed at Sakumo. His face was severe, but it melted in kindness. "I can't believe he's awake. It's good to have you back in the land of the living, child."

Sakumo blinked once and gave an unsteady smile, not having the heart to be mean. Sure, he felt like nothing but scum, but that didn't mean he had to spread such poison to everyone else. It wasn't who he was. . . It wasn't what he did.

"It's Sakumo," he managed to say through the darkness that suffocated him.

"Mitokado Homura," the man introduced himself as he put on his glasses and offered a hand. Sakumo took the large hand into his much smaller one and shook it.

The last man who was left to be addressed quickly stepped forward, the brightness he radiated almost put Kagami's to shame. "Sarutobi Hiruzen!" He quickly introduced before ruffling Sakumo's hair.

Why did people feel the need to do that? Seriously.

Hiruzen continue, "Sensei told us that you came from the other side of Amegakure's border." Suddenly the mood in the room dropped as all eyes landed on him. "I'm sorry for your loss," Hiruzen finished.

And no matter how common such lines were, Sakumo felt the sincerity in his words and in their eyes. They were the eyes of understanding, eyes that acknowledged his pain because they too have had their hearts bore witness to it at some point of their life.

Sakumo's gaze fluttered down to the sheets that covered his lap. He didn't want to look at them anymore. He felt his eyelashes brush across his warm skin before they became damp and cool to the touch.

There was silence.

Then chaos ensued.

"Great fucking job, Hiruzen. Seriously," Kagami deadpanned.

"I-I didn't mean to. I ?" Hiruzen stumbled over his words as he waved his hands around, unsure of what to do.

"Aw, little man, don't cry." He felt someone awkwardly pat his ankle, and his chest quaked at the sincere command in Torifu's rather awkward tone.

He really hated them all at the moment. Their talking, their worrying only made it harder to stop.

"Fuck," he heard Danzo hiss. "What do we do? Sensei will kill us."

"Koharu, you're a woman right?" Homura asked.

Koharu gave him a furious look. "No," she sarcastically drawled. "No, I'm not."

"We don't have time for your shit, woman," Kagami grumbled. "Now do your womanly touch or something!"

"Womanly touch, you say, you sexist pig?" Her voice raised a notch and Sakumo let out shuddering breaths, his vision blurring. "Fuck," she breathed. "Okay, okay!"

Her panicked hand smoothed out his ruffled hair, and it was painful. So painfully awkward and unnatural that he wanted to cry even more. Couldn't they just leave him alone? He was doing fine until they came and decided to bear his emotions for the whole world to see.

What was with the familiarity in their impressions? Why were they treating him as if he was their own? As if he was their friend, their family. It was terrible and overwhelming.

They only thing he could remember was his mother fiercely protecting him, his mother taking a deadly blow that was meant to kill him, not her, and his mother dying while embracing him.

His bleeding mother smiling as if she had died with no regrets. As if she had died smiling, knowing that somewhere, somehow, he would be living. Living because she had summoned a white-haired man to save him. Not just any man, but the Nidaime Hokage.

A man who wasn't a savior at all.

He was just a Hokage acting in the interests of the village, treating him like some traitor. As if he was someone who he needed to keep a close eye out for. Not because he felt responsible for his life as a human, but because he was the child of a missing-nin, and as the hokage, this choice was the only choice he could give that didn't involve his immediate death. What would the Nidaime do. . . If. . . If he found out who his father was?

Sakumo felt that suffocating dread crawl up his chest, feeling the strangest urge to protect his father, whoever he was. If the Nidaime found out that someone from the Land of Fire was conspiring with a missing-nin, he'd kill him. If his mom hadn't been dead by the time he was summoned, he would have surely killed her too.

He could still remember.

All of it.

Her smile, her blood, her lifeless body beneath him.

He could remember it as if it had only happened moment ago, and now here he was, with a group of Konoha-nin, who were treating him with a familiarity that warmed and tore at his soul at the same time. No. He didn't want to feel alive again.

He didn't want to feel what these people managed to bring out.

"I think you should just stick to killing," Kagami told Koharu lightly. Koharu retorted with a flying senbon, which he easily dodged.

"You pick the worse times to be cracking jokes." Danzo sighed.

"Why I never." Kagami gasped, looking completely heartbroken Kagami shook his head in betrayal, looking as if a great catastrophe had happened.

"Stop clowning around, Kagami." Torifu gave him a glare that only had Kagami chuckle in return. The red eyed man moved to sit at the edge of the bed.

Sakumo's vision cleared as Kagami began to smooth out his locks rather warmly with that sincere yet unstable smile of his. "Hey kid?" Sakumo flinched slightly at the light affectionate tap against his forehead. "Look into my eyes." Sakumo blindingly did as he was told, eyes fixating on the lazy swirl of the tomoe. "And go to sleep." His erratic heartbeat slowed, and the sobs died out as his eyes drooped closed.

"Thanks. . ." Sakumo managed to drawl out before succumbing to darkness. Kagami smirked and it was all the answer Sakumo needed to be assured that Kagami knew exactly what he thanked him for.

When his eyes cracked open for the fourth time, it was to a different surrounding. No longer was he on a cot inside some makeshift tent. Instead, he was being carried on someone's back, feeling the cool breeze lightly caressing his skin and fluttering through his clothes; they consisted of black grey shorts and a short sleeved, black shirt with the Konoha sigil printed in red on the front.

He wiggled his bare toes, and he glanced up to the thick canopy of leaves above.

"Whoa, stop tickling me!" Who was that? Right. He adjusted himself by placing his chin on Kagami's shoulder.

"M'kay," Sakumo slurred out groggily, feeling his eyelids slip closed on their own accord. He forced them open again.

Kagami glanced a him before he jumped onto another limb of a tree, pushing off and landing soundlessly on the grass into a small clearing. "Heh, you're pretty cute," he slowed to a walk. "Like a puppy," he added as an afterthought.

Sakumo yawned and rubbed his eye with a closed fist. "Where are we?"

"60 miles northeast of Konohagakure no Sato," came a new voice, but no less unfamiliar than Kagami's. Sakumo tensed, looking off to the side towards the Nidaime in his signature blue armor.

"In other words, we're in a forest heading home," Kagami lightly added in translation. He probably felt Sakumo's unease. They met each other's gaze, and Kagami smiled, as if reading his thoughts.

"Yeah, sensei's always like that. He never smiles too. I've heard a story once from Hashi-sensei of how he witnessed Tobi-sensei smiling when he was a kid. Hashi-sensei said it was a miracle, I think it was a delusion. Hashi-sensei did say he came home from a courier mission, running a whole day straight without water, and he saw Tobi-sensei smile at him before he passed out from dehydration." Kagami crinkled his nose. "If I was running a whole day straight without water, I'd probably be seeing Tobi-sensei laughing, declaring world peace or something like that. Better be careful. If you see that happen it's better to act normal and get one of us right away. It'll most definitely be an imposter. Speaking of which, are you thirsty?"

The Nidaime's gaze switched to Kagami. A raised brow the only indication that he was a little annoyed by his easy going attitude. Sakumo took the offered canteen in a daze.

"Kagami," Tobirama drawled. "Hand the boy over to Hiruzen and scout ahead. Do not go any farther from my sensory range."

"But sensei," Kagami whined. "I get tired with the sharingan active for more than 15 hours."

"Only because your control in chakra is as unstable as your persona," The Nidaime added dryly. "We will fix that when we get home, of course."

"I'm not a sensor, I'm a close-range combative-nin," Kagami muttered as he moved close to Hiruzen, who happily pulled the groggy Sakumo off Kagami's back. Sakumo held his yelp of pain when Hiruzen rolled him under his arm and over his back, adjusting his weight as if he weighed no less than some light pack. The wound on his side was throbbing. Something was wrong with it. Was it not healed right? Or did they leave it like that on purpose? Sakumo let out a shuddered breath and fisted his little hands.

"Kagami, stop moping," Hiruzen scolded. "You should trust in sensei's orders."

"You're such a teacher's pet, Hiru," Koharu called from the back.

Hiruzen blanched. "N-No, I'm not!" He cleared his throat and added in a more dignified manner, "I'm just saying that Kagami is the best out of all of us to juggle in various specialties. He should nurture such abilities," Hiruzen tried for diplomacy before he gave an unimpressed Kagami a narrowed glance. "After all," Hiruzen began smugly. "Sensei has a specialty as a sensor-nin and as a close-range combative-nin."

Kagami yawned, and Hiruzen's jaw slightly dropped in disbelief and irritation by Kagami's blatant dismissal.

"Yeah, yeah." Kagami waved lazily in Hiruzen's direction. "We all know sensei's just giving me a hard time cause I'm an U-chi-ha," Kagami sang out lightly before he waved at all of them and sunshined from the group.

Tobirama narrowed his eyes at the spot where Kagami had been before he looked to Sakumo, who was struggling in opening the canteen over Hiruzen's shoulder. Hiruzen wasn't as smooth in his run as Kagami was, so the canteen accidentally slipped from his fingers.

Tobirama caught it before Hiruzen could even react.

"Sensei!" Hiruzen stumbled slightly in his run before he adjusted, looking only slightly ruffled by the close proximity of his sensei.

"Ah," Sakumo's hands fell lazily over Hiruzen' shoulder as he watched Tobirama uncap the canteen. He closed his eyes, feeling his mind slowly slipping back to that familiar unconsciousness.

"Wake up, boy." Sakumo blinked up at the Nidaime before he took the canteen from his hand. Hiruzen slowed to a halt in order to give him a chance to take a sip without knocking the canteen off of his hands with his shoulders.

When Sakumo finished, he looked to the Nidaime with something akin to worry. "Why do I feel so sleepy all the time?"

Tobirama closed the canteen and hooked it to Hiruzen's belt in one smooth move before he eyed Sakumo. It was as if he was silently contemplating on telling him or not. It seemed there was a silent communication between Hiruzen and the Nidaime because one moment he was in Hiurzen's arm, and the next he was leaning drowsily against the soft white fur that lined the collar of the Nidaime's armor.

"The genjutsu Kagami had put you under kept your brain active in a forced induced sleep for more than 48 hours," the Nidaime said slowly, turning his head slightly to Sakumo, who snuggled deeper against the fur.

Sakumo gave a slow nod. He had learned about Genjutsu in the books that his father has sent to him in a storage seal. In fact, all the books were Academy-level books that showed the basics to Konoha's shinobi arts. He was glad his stranger of a father had made sure to prepare him to be knowledgeable on the shinobi arts.

"In other words, you've been awake for four days straight. It was unwise for Kagami to abuse his dojutsu by manipulating your mind into falsely making you believe that you were asleep," the Nidaime finished.

"So I've been asleep for four days," Sakumo mumbled.

He closed his eyes before forcing them open to stare at the metal forehead protector that guarded the Nidaime's forehead and cheeks. The scars on his chin and the side of his cheek looked deep. They may have been healed, but they were there as some sort of reminder. Sakumo vaguely wondered if he used that face protector because of those scars.

"And now that I'm actually awake, I have to sleep to recover the loss of sleep from those four days," Sakumo concluded.

From his bleary vision, he could faintly see the corner of the Nidaime's lips lifting. Was he an imposter? Sakumo didn't stay awake to find out as the Nidaime's soothing, deep voice lulled him back to a more healthier sleep: "Yes. That is a more simple way of putting it."

* * *

 **REVISED: 10/23/017**


	5. Chapter 5: Resolution

**A/N: Chronicles of the White Fang is an AU story. However, I tied it as accurately as I could to the canon story of Kakashi's.  
**

* * *

 **Chronicles of the White Fang**

 **Chapter Five**

 **-Resolution-**

* * *

 _"I've made a decision the day I was brought to Konoha. One that surely had affected me in a way I did not foresee."_

 _-Hatake, Sakumo_

 _Age, 30_

* * *

When his eyes opened, he felt more worse than when he originally had woken up.

The pain on his side was almost unbearable. He shifted his head from the linen of white fur that he had turned into some makeshift pillow, and he glanced at the closest person near him.

It was the teenager that he vaguely remembered Kagami call Danzo. He had a double-crossed scar on his chin. His eyes were a hazel brown, like the hue of the lightest shade of bark, but they were narrowed, almost as calculative looking as the Nidaime's. However, where the Nidaime's gaze looked pragmatic and reserved, calculative from an objective standpoint, Danzo's gaze looked emotional. He was looking at Sakumo with something akin to mistrust.

It was as if he was questioning him and his worth. _Will you be a hindrance to the Nidaime, our sensei? Or will you be productive to our cause?_

Sakumo quickly looked away.

Danzo looked as intimidating as the Iwa-nin.

His shift was probably sensed because the Nidaime slowed to a walk before he halted and knelt. Sakumo slid off the Nidaime's back and looked around the forest. He still held onto the man's pant leg while the other hand gripped his toy wolf tightly against the wound on his stomach. It felt more painful now. As if something tight was pulling at his skin and tearing at it. He ignored the pain. He didn't want to voice it for fear of being ignored by them.

The trees seemed different here. They looked bigger, with grass and leaves thicker than it was possibly normal. The roots of the trees looked ancient as they protruded from the earth, appearing as tall as the Nidaime and as thick as Sakumo's waist. This must be the renown Hashirama Forest that surrounded Konohagakure.

It was described in one of the books he had sealed into his arms called, 'The Founding of Konohagakure no Sato' by Senju Hashirama. The Shodaime Hokage had been known as an infamous shinobi, whose only equal was Uchiha Madara, but apparently, he was a scholar too because Sakumo had about ten to fifteen books that were written by him.

When the Nidaime stood to his full 6-foot height, Sakumo reached subconsciously for his hand, but he quickly backtracked. This man wasn't someone he could just trust blindly. Just because he saved Sakumo didn't mean he was apathetic to his situation. The Nidaime even said so himself that Sakumo didn't have a choice in coming back with him to Konoha. After all, he was the son of a _missing-nin._

The only other person he held hands with was his mother. She was safe to him. Someone he could trust with his life. Now there was no one.

Sakumo let out a shuddered breath and pressed his toy wolf closely to the tight pain coming from his wound. It was a reminder that he was alone among foreign-nin, who were bringing him back not because he needed a home but because he couldn't be trusted in other hands.

He was a prisoner.

Sakumo held back, watching as the Nidaime had already started walking, leaving Sakumo to trail after him slowly. He fell behind easily from the Konoha-nin, who appeared to be the Nidaime's students: all six of them. They didn't look back to see if he was following. It made him feel even more helpless.

Did they not care?

Or were they so confident in their abilities that if he ran, they would catch him?

Sakumo gazed down to his feet. Since when did he have sandals? One of them must have bought him a pair in some shop. He was sure they passed by many to get to Konohagakure.

Sakumo pushed through a shrub they merely walked over and began to run his hand through his hair to shake off the leaves as he burst through and stumbled into someone. He was steadied by Hiruzen. The teenager smiled at him, but Sakumo leaned away, feeling too aware of his surroundings.

It was as if the days had finally caught up to him now that he was fully awake. What the Nidaime said about his mother, about how he only had one choice; that choice was to stay in Konoha and be loyal to the village, and about the situations that lead up to his current stress.

What were they going to do to him?

He hugged the toy closer for solace, trying to ignore the festering pain that had him walking slower and slower. . .

"Hurry up, boy." Sakumo stiffened at the sound of Danzo's voice. The teenager was scowling at him. His gaze was narrowed. _Scary,_ Sakumo thought as he jogged forward to keep up, biting his tongue when the pain only grew.

Sakumo glanced around the dirt road before he took in the huge dark, olive green gates. The Konohagakure sigil loomed above in red paint bringing out the seals that were painted over the gates and walls of the village.

Sakumo stayed still, studying the seals before someone put their hand on his head and directed him forward. "You'll get a headache trying to understand that, Saku-chan," Kagami cheerfully stated. Sakumo scrunched his nose. Saku-chan? However, Sakumo quickly stayed close to Kagami, who hadn't been with the crowd before. When did he get back and join them? "Only the

Uzumaki and Konoha's Intelligence Division know how it works."

Sakumo blinked up at Kagami before he tentatively offered his hand. If it was anyone within the group that Sakumo felt an illusion of safety with, then it was Kagami. He was the nicest one out of all of them, and he at least tried to make his imprisonment comfortable.

Kagami tilted his head before he grabbed the offered hand. "Who would have thought?" He wondered aloud with a smile that for once didn't seem so unstable. "My very own pup."

"Make sure to register him in the Inuzuka hound station," Danzo sneered, jokingly.

"Saku-chan will be better than those Inuzuka pups, right?" Kagami looked to Sakumo.

"I'm not a dog," Sakumo mumbled.

Torifu, the largest teenger among them merely patted his head with a smile before he offered him dango. Where did Torifu get that? And why did everyone else except the Nidaime have dango sticks too? Again, they probably passed by a dango shop along the way.

Sakumo contemplated on denying it out of irritation, but his stomach growled at the thought in protestation. He took the dango stick with a smile. "Thank you."

"It's a treat for being a good boy during the trip," Torifu added warmly.

There were snickers around him.

Sakumo blinked up at Torifu before he chewed on the offered snack with a slight frown. They were teasing him. It hurt.

Sakumo didn't know anymore.

Were they putting up a friendly facade on purpose to put him in a false sense of security or were they really trying to make his journey more comfortable? His wonder behind their actions only stressed him out more.

Koharu patted his head when she passed by. "You should feel grateful." She flicked her blonde hair. "Torifu only shares his food as a show of friendship."

Friendship?

The only relationship he ever had was with his mother, and that was gone. He didn't have anyone. He shouldn't trust anyone.

When they reached the gate, two shinobi in those familiar grey flak jackets quickly sat straight. "Nidaime Hokage-sama!" They said in unison, scrambling to stand at attention.

"Stand down." The Nidaime strode past without even looking their way. "All six of you are dismissed, I expect you to get a good night's rest today before I send you on your next team mission tomorrow." The Nidaime turned slightly. "Boy, you will follow me."

Sakumo was reluctant to let go of Kagami's hand, but he did so anyway and began to fall in line next to the Nidaime. "Where are we going?" He asked tentatively.

The Nidaime merely gazed down at him with that same calculative look. He didn't say anything, and it unnerved Sakumo. He only knelt and pulled Sakumo up from the armpits. It startled a yelp from him.

"Don't fuss," the Nidaime scolded. "Hold on tight to that toy if you don't want to lose it." Sakumo did as he was told, and not a moment passed when that strange pull took hold. Sakumo closed his eyes, aware of the disorienting feeling of switching from one surrounding to the next.

When he opened his eyes, he was in a hallway lined with chairs and a desk settled across a door.

"Welcome back, Hokage-sama." The kunoichi behind the desk greeted, looking unperturbed by his sudden entrance. There was only a moment's pause before she went back to writing in a file.

The man gave a curt nod, but he said nothing. Instead, he pushed the door open, leading to an office room. There were books and a vault to the side of the wall. As well as an office desk made of wood and windows behind that oversaw the village.

However, what caught his attention the most was a woman with long, crimson hair scribbling across papers before shuffling them to the side. She didn't glance up at the Nidaime's presence, but she was aware all the same when she greeted him.

"Tobi, the next time you decide to leave the village, you will notify me in advance." Her calm tone wasn't formed as a question. She glanced up, and her lilac irises glowered. "Do you understand?"

The Nidaime Hokage settled Sakumo on his feet before he strode forward to loom in front of her with crossed arms. "I made sure to notify you before I left," he spoke.

"A note stuck on my front door notifying me that I will take the temporary role as hokage for a month." She raised a finger to stop him from interrupting her. "Not even an hour before dawn when you left is not notifying me in advance," she stated clearly. Perhaps that would have been his retort if she hadn't paused him.

"I will make sure to not make the same mistake again, Mito," he said slowly and warily, as if picking his next words with care so as not to offend her further.

"Good." She smiled. Her expression from cold and punishing did a flip to sweet and loving as she stood up, moved around the desk, and embraced him. "I've missed you, Tobi."

"And I you, Mito." He pulled back before he turned to Sakumo. "I know you have questions as to why I had to leave so suddenly to the borders of Suna, but they can wait. Right now, may you do a quick diagnosis on this child?" At her curious look, the Nidaime elaborated, "Kagami put him in a genjutsu."

The woman, Mito, turned to him, giving him her full attention. "Ah." She looked to the Nidaime with a questioning gaze before she glanced to Sakumo with a warmer expression. "What is your name, child?"

She gestured for Sakumo to follow her. Sakumo did so, and with her direction, he settled on the hokage's chair behind the desk. She knelt in front of him.

"Hatake Sakumo." He settled his toy wolf on his lap to hide the dried bloodstain on his shirt. "What is your name?" Sakumo asked. He gazed at her vibrant, crimson hair that complimented her creamy skin and lilac irises. His eyes settled on the diamond shaped tattoo on her forehead.

She smiled. "Uzumaki Mito."

His gaze widened.

She laughed as she placed her hand over his forehead. The soothing green chakra that flowed from her hand had him closing his eyes with a light smile. She felt warm. "Do you recognize me, Sakumo-chan?"

He blinked. "Yes." It seemed she was waiting for an explanation, however, so he elaborated, "The books written by Senju Hashirama are always dedicated to you. You're his wife," he pointed out.

"Yes." She nodded before she frowned. "Ah, may you relax please?" Sakumo shifted, but he didn't know how. Not with the pain emanating from his wound. "Hm. . ." Her hand traveled lower and lower until it settled over his stomach. "What happened here Sakumo?" She removed his toy wolf to reveal the dried blood stain.

Sakumo glanced down. "Um, kunai," he offered, intelligently. He felt a presence behind him shift, and he gazed up to the Nidaime, who was standing behind Mito. The man's vermillion eyes settled on the dried blood stain.

"Why haven't you told anyone?" Her gaze narrowed as she reached for the hem of his shirt. He bit his lip worriedly. He wasn't sure if it was allowed.

"What do you mean?" The Nidaime frowned. "A medic-nin healed him."

The Nidaime stopped speaking when she lifted Sakumo's shirt. The wound had been healed, but the stitches were irritated, and the reddened skin around was leaking puss and blood. It looked as bad as it felt.

"Sakumo-chan," Mito spoke softly. "When a wound hurts it's okay to tell someone," her voice was low, genuine. He flinched. "You are no prisoner here."

His shoulders were kept tense for a second as her glowing hand settled over his stomach, and Sakumo felt the skin around his cheeks redden. Then his shoulders sagged because really, all he needed was some sort of reassurance.

His mother was dead. He was going to die next. He was saved by the Nidaime Hokage. He was taken to some foreign place. He didn't know what his status was. He didn't know who to fall back to.

His mom was gone, and there was no one he could trust to look after him.  
It was as if the weight of his situation was crashing down on him in that moment.

"Oh," his voice echoed tonelessly.

Sakumo's gaze switched to the window, taking in the buildings and shinobi jumping from roof to roof. It all seemed so foreign. The buildings were of a different design. The people here wore different styles of clothes. It wasn't raining 24/7 as it would in Amegakure.

"Okay," was all Sakumo said because throughout the entire journey to Konohagakure by shinobi he didn't know, he really thought he was a prisoner.

Sure, they had been warm and kind when they introduced themselves, but when the Nidaime had told him he had only one choice: to be loyal to Konoha, some sort of barrier inside of him took place. It was his first time having someone take away his freedom to choose.

It made him feel caged even though there were no chains to tie him to them.

They were strong, they could easily kill him with a squeeze of their hands, and they could hide that strength behind a facade of kindness. He didn't know what their motives were. He didn't know what they wanted from him. For all Sakumo knew, they were going to torture and brainwash him into being loyal to Konoha. Some loyal soldier. It was either that or be branded with the mistakes that his mother had done and be killed for treason.

Mito frowned. Something about her expression didn't seem happy by his silence. She watched Sakumo for a moment before her gaze switched to the Nidaime with a coldness that had first been displayed when they entered the office.

"Sakumo, may you please step outside the office, please? I need to have a word with the hokage." She didn't look away from the Nidaime as she spoke.

Sakumo scrambled off the high chair, holding onto the armrest until his feet touched the floor. Once he was settled on his feet, Sakumo picked up his wolf. He glanced to the both of them and began to walk towards the door. Again, he had to stand on his tippy toes in order to open the door, and as he began to shut it, he overheard a few words being exchanged.

"I had no prior knowledge that he was in pain," came the soft, timbre voice of the man, who Sakumo still couldn't wrap his mind around.

"When a child hides his pain, it is only because the child does not feel safe enough to voice it-"

He shut the door and turned back to the office kunoichi in the waiting room. It seemed that she overheard it too because the moment Sakumo looked to her, she glanced down. Her expression carefully neutral.

Sakumo glanced around, feeling incredibly small in the large room. He stepped across the room and scrambled up a waiting chair to observe the village and all her people. Then, rather impatiently, Sakumo jumped down and went towards the kunoichi at the desk.

"Yes?" She asked mildly. She was still scribbling away at files and laying them out in three separate categories: Genin, Chunin, and Jonin.

"Water?"

"Hm." She eyed Sakumo warily. "There's a small cafeteria four floors down from here."

Sakumo cocked his head. "But the building is only made up of three."

He looked behind the kunoichi to look at the map of the building he was in: the Hokage Building. Figures. But if he was reading it right, then he was sure that it was only made up of three floors.

Then suddenly, the kunoichi grinned, looking almost sly. Sakumo stepped back. This time, he felt wary.

"Yes, well, the fourth floor is where the special ninja go to." She glanced back down to her work.

"Special?"

"Yes, I have no time to look after you. Plus, I'm sure the special ninja will love to have a look at you." She stood up, gathering all three piles of the files in her arms. "Follow me. I have to take this to the mission roster anyway."

Sakumo nodded, unsure if this was a good plan, but Lady Mito said he was no prisoner. Nothing should go wrong. He followed the kunoichi down to the first floor, and he waited back as she handed out all the files to the chunin at the front desk. They talked for a little bit, and she looked back, as if barely noticing he was there.

"Oh, you're still here, kid?" She pointed to a door on the side of the building. "What are you waiting for? The staircase leading to the cafeteria is over there."

"Um," a chunin shinobi began. "I don't think some little kid has clearance to go into the Jonin Wing-"

"Well, he said he wanted water, and get this," she whispered conspiratorially. "He was brought in by the Nidaime Hokage."

"Wait! You don't think. . . But Hokage-sama's only been gone for a month."

"I have my doubts too, but the kid must be someone important if the Nidaime himself brought in a foreigner."

Sakumo pulled away from the gossip and let the door close behind him. He stepped down the set of staircases with the help of the railing, pondering over their words. If only they knew. They wouldn't be so quick as to gossip over them being related. The Nidaime may have silver hair like him, but that didn't necessarily mean they were father and son. His father was out there somewhere. Probably believing Sakumo to be dead.

He scratched at the storage seals on his arms. They were the only proof that he had a father who cared. When Sakumo made it to the fourth floor, he pushed the door to escape the staircases and ended up in a stretched out corridor with closed doorways along either side of the hallway.

He walked forward. All the closed doors that he tried to open didn't budge. The light above him flickered, and Sakumo paused, feeling out of his element.

Maybe he should go back? He swallowed dryly. No, he really was thirsty.

He continued his way until he finally made it to a 'T' formed hallway. It was as if the corridor went from haunted to full of life. Shinobi and kunoichi in grey flak jackets, that looked like a more modern uniform than that of the Nidaime's, which was popular in the Warring States Period, were swarming around, laughing and talking among each other.

The corridor was arched with pillars revealing what the desk kunoichi in the upper floor had described as a cafeteria. There were tables lined across the room with food being distributed neatly. The atmosphere seemed light and cheerful.

However, the moment Sakumo stepped through the open corridor and into the cafeteria, the atmosphere tensed. He could feel it settle heavily on his shoulders as he hugged his toy wolf and looked around the room.

The water didn't seem so tempting anymore.

"Yo, little man!"

Sakumo knew that voice. He turned to the right to see Kagami. He was still in his uniform. His black, wavy hair still looked windblown from the run they had to endure to Konohagakure. The black strands curled around his face, framing around him in a boyish style. The Konohagakure hitai-ate was still settled over his forehead, looking worn and old, and his eyes. They were no longer that crimson color, but an obsidian hue.

Sakumo hesitated only a little, but seeing the older boy was a relief. He was the only familiar face within the sea of strangers.

"What are you doing here?" Kagami asked, but then gave Sakumo one good look before shrugging and becking him to follow him to a table. At the table, there sat the rest of those few familiar faces that have traveled with him from the frontier of Sunagakure.

They were eating somberly, still covered in blood and grime.

Danzo was the first to scowl. "Why is that here?"

Torifu inhaled his mouthful of noodles before he spoke up, "That is a kid. The kid's probably hungry." Torifu patted the small space beside him and Hiruzen. Sakumo climbed on, slipping off slightly before he was literally grabbed from the back of his shirt, lifted up, and sat down unceremoniously by Kagami.

Sakumo got on his knees to look above the table and not a moment later was a tray filled with food pushed his way. Hiruzen handed him chopsticks.

Sakumo broke the sticks apart and bowed his head slightly. "Itadakimasu." Sakumo gazed at his plate before he started with the rice. Strategically, he avoided the vegetables.

He was silent as he ate. Hearing the whispered words among the six of them. They spoke softly among themselves among the loudness of the room. Mostly about planning shopping together to resupply and telling each other their schedules for the week so that they could buddy together in their free time for training.

Sakumo perked up. "Training?"

All eyes at the table fell on him.

"Quite the observer, aren't you child?" Mitokado said, pushing up his glasses at the base of his nose as he said so.

"I train," Sakumo spoke up.

"We know." Hiruzen took a sip from his tea.

Sakumo frowned. "How?"

Hiruzen gave him a silly grin. "Because of our super cool, super awesome, super abilities-"

"The scars and callous on your hands," Danzo interrupted. Then his solemn gaze traveled to his covered arm. "The seals on your arm."

Sakumo tensed and so did the rest of them.

The entire room went quiet.

Everyone. Everything. Not even a breath was heard.

Never had it been so clear in that moment that he was in a room filled with ninja. Yes. These weren't just ordinary people. These people made up some of the shinobi force of Konohagakure. They were ninja.

Their job description was assassination, espionage, and warfare.

No matter how casual those around them were in their conversations with each other, they were still eavesdropping. No matter how friendly these six students of the Nidaime were, they didn't trust him, and they calculatingly made it known to the rest of the shinobi force. No. The way Hiruzen, Torifu, and Kagami were glaring at Danzo didn't seem like that was the case.

He was a boy, but in Danzo's eyes, he was a foreigner; an enemy.

Then suddenly, Hiruzen shrugged and patted Sakumo in the back. "Kagami has his sharingan, and sensei is the best sensor in the entire land. If sensei hadn't taken you straight to the T&I force as soon as we arrived to Konoha, then I trust that whatever you have sealed in you isn't a threat."

Kagami smiled. "Plus, sensei is your warden now."

Koharu flicked her blonde hair and rolled her blue eyes. "Better watch out, you'll be seeing a lot of this creep around."

Kagami narrowed his eyes. "Go suck a fat iwa-" He dodged to the side only slightly as a senbon passed by.

"Finish that sentence and die," Koharu warned.

Hiruzen sighed. "I can already tell that you will be a bad influence on this child, Kagami."

Kagami gave a shrug of indifference. "I'm the greatest thing that ever happened to him."

"I say we vote on whether or not Kagami's allowed to be near him. I mean seriously, he cast a genjutsu that knocked him out for a week. That could do serious damage to a kid this size and age." Koharu raised a hand. "All who say aye?"

Kagami sat straight, not looking so playful anymore. "What are you talking about?" His eyes narrowed at Danzo and Hiruzen who raised their hands. "Hey," he spoke, no longer amused. "I met him first." Hiruzen stifled a giggle whereas Danzo merely smirked.

Sakumo stayed silent. He stared at his half-eaten meal before he placed his chopsticks down. He could feel the gazes on him. The distrust oozing from the shinobi force of Konohagakure. Him, a mere child, was a threat to their eyes. However, how was that so surprising? He knew of the stories. They trained ninja from a young age.

These shinobi and kunoichi among him were warriors. Assassins. Killers.

And he. . . _He was just a child._

A child who couldn't do anything when his mother died.

A child who couldn't do anything now under the gazes of those that were already seeing him as one who didn't belong.

He glanced up and met the gaze of Kagami.

The older boy was staring at him, as if he too already had the knowledge that he was beginning to comprehend.

Then Kagami smiled as Sakumo narrowed his eyes in determination.

He didn't want to stay stuck like this. Doing nothing. Being nothing. Achieving nothing.

He didn't want to be nothing.

He'll show them. All of them.

* * *

 **REVISED: 10/28/2017**


End file.
